Mental health housing support Volunteer

The Organisation

At Porchlight, we help people who have nowhere to go and no-one to turn to; some people are homeless, others are struggling to cope with the pressures in their lives and need our support to keep on track.

As a charity working across Kent, we help vulnerable and isolated people get support with their mental health, housing, education and employment. We provide young people and adults with the advice, guidance and skills to live independently in the future, to play an active role in their local community and to fulfil their potential.

In 2015/16 we supported nearly 5000 people but we couldn’t do it without the hard work and commitment of supporters, partners, funders and staff, and of course, the people that we support.

The Service

Our principle focus is to support service users to obtain or retain appropriate accommodation in order to prevent people with mental health support needs becoming homeless. We aim to promote the wellbeing and independence of the service user, in addition to empowering their skills towards a more stable lifestyle, social inclusion and community cohesion. We seek to support clients to better manage their mental health and prevent the need for crisis intervention.

The Role

Our Community Housing Support Workers assist clients for up to 12 weeks providing one to one support in the community. Advice, guidance and advocacy is delivered in a sensitive, non-judgemental and non-oppressive way. We aim to achieve tangible and robust outcomes through collaborative working with partners and stakeholders such as local councils or housing associations. Together we will agree a service user led SMART personal support plan, with clear identified goals and outcomes. Some of the housing issues we can offer help with include significant rent arrears, experiencing anti-social behaviour or harassment, disrepair issues and insecure or unsettled housing.

However, the service provision is also reactive to a crisis, such as eviction or sanction of housing benefits.

Here are just a few ways that you can support the clients accessing the service:

  • Assist staff with client need assessment interviews, taking notes and ensuring all information is recorded on the paperwork with guidance from the Mental health housing Worker
  • Assistance at information events, giving out information, looking after stands and promoting the service to potential service users
  • Support the arranged drop in surgery’s alongside staff to make service users feels at ease and give direction and support to each support service
  • Support service users with attending prearranged activities and appointments in the community

These are just a few ideas of how your time can make a big difference to someone’s life, so if you are enthusiastic, positive and feel passionate about supporting people to build their confidence and self-esteem, then this role could be for you.

What we need from you:

A keen interest in mental health and housing

Commitment to attending set training sessions.

Commitment to meeting with your mentor regularly.

Flexibility and positive attitude

Two references will be required

A full DBS will be sought

Benefits for you volunteering:

Develop key skills and valuable experience of the homelessness and mental health sector within a dynamic, positive, friendly and supportive environment

Have access to relevanttraining courses run at Porchlight

The opportunity to gain a formal certificate in mentoring

A professional reference for future work / study / volunteering opportunities

Make a significant contribution to supporting a vulnerable person to move forward with their lives

Invaluable work experience

Induction/Training

A full induction and specific, relevant training will be provided to prepare all volunteers for their role.